Living in a Climate of Fear

South Asian, Muslim, Arab, and Sikh groups under siege in the US

The president’s program of the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association on Saturday morning featured South Asian American activist and attorney Deepa Iyer, whose 2015 book We Too Sing America explored the personal stories of South Asians, Muslims, Arabs, and Sikhs whose lives were altered by hate crimes in post-9/11 America. “The book was a call to action for Asian racial identities and solidarity,” Iyer said. “I hoped it would be an idea catalyst to build and organize power in a changing racial landscape.”

Iyer said that in the wake of the September 11 attacks, these communities faced three different types of repression: public acts of discrimination, governmental surveillance and intimidation, and a media narrative that demonized them as terrorists. “All of this came together to form a climate of isolation and fear” that did not end a year or two after 9/11. “In 2012, an Indian immigrant named Sunando Sen was pushed onto the tracks in front of a New York City subway train and killed” by someone who wanted to avenge the Twin Towers. “In 2015, three Palestinian students were killed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, by an intruder, supposedly over a dispute about a parking place,” Iyer said. These public acts also extend to vandalism at mosques and temples, profiling of community members, employment discrimination for women wearing a hijab, and bullying in schools.

“Muslims are also detained and deported at much higher rates than before 9/11,” Iyer said. With the public equating Muslims with terrorists or terrorists-in-training, calling for English-only legislation, holding anti-Sharia Law rallies, and taking out references to Islam in school textbooks, “these things all come together to form a climate of fear. Muslims and South Asians are feeling like this is not their country, and they have gotten accustomed to this attitude, even before Trump.”

In August 2012, a man with ties to white supremacist organizations shot and killed six people and wounded four others in the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, south of Milwaukee. “The Oak Creek community came together to address hate and gun violence,” Iyer said, with the son of one of the victims, Harpreet Saini, providing powerful testimony in the US Senate months after the shootings. “But the roots of anti-Asian sentiments go way back to immigration policies and sentiments more than 100 years ago, notably the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the riots in Bellingham, Washington, of September 4, 1907. Some 500 whites rounded up hundreds of Sikhs and Hindus, locking them up in the basement of city hall. The intent was to exclude Indian immigrants from working at local lumber mills,” Iyer said. “The Bellingham Herald wrote in an editorial, ‘The Hindu is not a good citizen … Our racial burdens are already enough to bear.’ The paper apologized 100 years later.”

The feeling of hopelessness and alarm has only increased after the 2016 election, Iyer said, from the “climate of executive orders that embolden hate groups, the threat of a Muslim ban, and the increased rate of deportations.”

What can librarians do to begin healing their communities? Iyer said libraries can:

Serve as safe spaces for everyone in the community.

Offer conversation starters by showcasing books and articles that can bring individuals together.

Become knowledge expanders by featuring speakers of color.

Openly proclaim their sanctuary status through resolutions and statements.

Push civic engagement to establish equitable policies.

Provide good books for youth, such as Ask Me No Questions and Watched by Marina Budhos.

“We are heading rapidly to 2040 when people of color will be in the majority,” Iyer said. “Make it clear through your actions—programs, speakers, resources—that put your principles into practice.”

GEORGE M. EBERHART is a senior editor of American Libraries.

Share

Tagged Under

Related Articles

After 9/11 as a Native American I lived in a climate of alarm that racist sexist homophobic inbred people of varying skin tones who worship a pedophile and do not respect the laws and cultures of my country would continue to murder my innocent countrymen, women, and children in our public places on our own soil, all the while lecturing, blaming, and attempting to harass my people into resegregation and inequality. Everywhere I go in the world I get triggered at the sound of someone yelling Allu Akbar. Can I hide in the library with you guys or will I get shushed no matter how unproblematically I read? Will you tell me what to read so that I can finally be part of the solution? The hypocrisy of this racist propaganda that values skin color over behavior is amusing.

Kiwi librarians are being asked to do more to make homeless people feel welcome. The call went out September 24–27 at the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa conference in Christchurch, where a book club for the homeless hosted at the Auckland library has been held up as an example of what others should be doing. LIANZA President Louise LaHatte would like to see libraries around the country follow Auckland’s lead.

As we mark 2017’s National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week, September 24–30, libraries across the country are transforming lives through literacy services for adults and families. The correlation between literacy and income inequality, health outcomes, and rates of incarceration underscores how literacy intersects with equity, access, and inclusion. Libraries are helping to address such disparities in equity, access, and outcomes through their adult and family literacy services.

ACRL has released Academic Library Impact: Improving Practice and Essential Areas to Research. Developed for ACRL by OCLC Research, this valuable resource investigates how libraries can increase student learning and success and effectively communicate their value to higher education stakeholders. The full report is freely available for download on the ACRL website. The document recommends where more research is needed in areas critical to the higher education sector such as accreditation and academic achievement.

Edited by Susanne Caro,Government Information Essentials, published by ALA Editions, gathers the expertise of experienced government information librarians from across the country to provide real-world insight into the work, collections, and interests of this discipline. The book discusses what it’s like to be a government documents librarian, from the first day on the job through taking on a management role.

Cara Giaimo writes: “In June 1944, American troops prepared to storm the beaches of Normandy. As they lined up to board the invasion barges, each was issued something less practical than a weapon, but equally precious: a slim, postcard-sized, softcover book. These were Armed Services Editions—paperbacks specifically designed to fit in a soldier’s pockets and travel with them wherever they went. Between 1943 and 1947, the US military sent 123 million copies of over 1,000 titles to troops serving overseas.”

The National Book Foundation announced September 21 that it will award Annie Proulx with its 2017 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Proulx, author of many novels and short stories, including The Shipping News, Postcards, and “Brokeback Mountain,” is being honored for her exceptional work and significant impact on American literature. The award will be presented to Proulx by Academy Award-winning actress Anne Hathaway, who starred in the film Brokeback Mountain.

Maren Williams writes: “Every year, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom receives reports of book challenges from around the country—that is, a request from an individual or group for a book to be restricted or removed from a library or classroom. Over the years OIF has tracked the reasons cited for these challenges, and designer Tim Leong distilled the data regarding comics and graphic novels into this infographic. Read on for more information on each of the categories and challenged books.”